


butterflies, the beautiful kind

by michiko (afire)



Series: and i will try to fix you [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, i had a lot of fun writing this you may see more of them in the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 16:31:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5255405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afire/pseuds/michiko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're making up for lost time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	butterflies, the beautiful kind

It was morning, and Dallas still couldn't believe what had happened the previous night. His brother was a dick and was probably going to regret it all by the next week when he came to visit. _if_ he came to visit, he doubted Kavinsky would still want to visit after all that had happened. Maybe he would try to pretend it all didn't happen, that sounded like something he would do. Dallas didn't know what to think or even what to do, honestly for the first time in his life he was at a loss. It was a strange feeling but at the same time made him feel sort of free as well.

As of now he doesn't have the time to worry about Kavinsky, he needs to check if Rome is doing okay. the previous night is still sort of a blur for him but he suspected it would be imprinted in Rome's mind forever. The boy rubbed at his eyes, stretching his arms above his head and yawning before sitting up and swinging his legs over his bed. Well he tried to sit up and swing his legs across the bed. there was something blocking Dallas from moving any closer to the edge of his bed than he already was. He glanced down, blinking his eyes in rapid succession when the object came into focus.

It was Rome, curled up into his side and breathing softly. She must have got in through the door sometime in the night, he should've thought to check the lock on them. His parents were in Greece on some working expedition, Dallas missed them but the trips were infrequent and he got to see them a lot more than from back when they moved a lot. You take what you can get from life. So because his parents weren't home their door must have stayed unlocked the whole night, and now he was panicking because what if a robber had gotten in and taken their surround sound system? That was expensive, he remembered his father lecturing them on how and when it should be used. Mostly they weren't allowed to touch it.

But back to the situation at hand, Rome was currently asleep in his bed and he didn't know how to react at all. she felt warm, so it wasn't recently that she had snuck in. It wasn’t a surprise though, at least not to him. Dallas couldn't imagine how unbearably lonely being in that house by herself must have felt. she always seemed so upbeat and ready for adventure, he hadn't ever thought of her feeling alone before, but he supposed loneliness affected everyone, no matter if they showed it or not. The boy laughed quietly to himself, blinking up at his ceiling and remembering his words from so long ago.

 _'Just cause you don’t see something doesn't mean it's not there.'_ that was ages and ages ago, back when their friendship was easy and he knew exactly what he could and couldn't say and what he could and couldn't do and when his brother wasn't a dick who cheated on his amazing girlfriend. Dallas shifted a little so his arm wouldn't fall asleep, and he supposed the movement must have woken Rome up because suddenly she was stretching like a cat, body warm up against his. The boy stiffened, still very much confused as to what they were and why Rome had decided to come and sleep in his bed about 4 hours ago.

* * *

 

The previous night Dallas remembered getting her call at midnight, scrabbling for the phone that was on his bedside table and squinting at the too bright backlight, trying to discern who exactly was calling him. it had taken about 3 seconds for Rome's name to register in his head. Well actually her name was 'totally wasn't built in a day' on his phone, which she had set herself about a year ago. He had picked up, rubbing at his eyes and mumbling a hello as he got up and shuffled to the bathroom, assuming that she needed a ride. at that time he still hadn't thought about why she needed a ride, and it wasn't till he was there at the college then he remembered that she was here with Kavinsky and in all honestly he should have sent her home.

Dallas pulled up right in front of the sorority house, cringing at the loud music that was pouring out. He was just about to call Rome when he spotted her out of the corner of his eye, running toward the car. he was wide awake enough now to frown and worry about why she was running. He thought he could see the figure of someone familiar behind her but by then Rome had jumped into the front seat and yelled at him to _go go go!_ so he had stepped on the pedal and reversed out of there, heading back to the freeway so he could bring the both of them home.

The ride was silent, and Dallas didn’t want to pry so he let Rome decide when she wanted to talk. She chose just as they turned off the freeway to ask if they could go to the city pool and he had said yes because well, if the girl that you love asks to go to the city pool at 1am in the morning you comply and drive her to the city pool. It was locked of course, as all government buildings probably are at 1 in the morning. Rome had paced outside for a while before finding a side door that was open, and it had taken her about 2 minutes to persuade him to sneak in. One, Dallas was afraid of getting arrested for trespassing. Two, the pool just felt so creepy at night, so much creepier than it was in the morning.

He complied in the end though, when had he not? They ended up sitting on the ledge at the deep end, Dallas' legs crossed underneath him and Rome's dangling in the water. Again, it was silent for a while, and the boy had just stared up at the stars, wondering if soulmates were real and if they were he was fairly certain this girl sitting next to him was his though he would never be hers. _He cheated on me_. she said suddenly, and his head had snapped back to stare at her, the words burrowing into his brain and trying to make sense of themselves. _Someone told me where he was and when I walked over he was stuffing his tongue down some other girl's throat._  Her voice was scathing but there was a layer of sadness and pain underneath that made Dallas want to pull all his hair out.

He waited, because it seemed like she had more to say. _I thought I could surprise him you know? We couldn't meet up the previous weekend because of his finals and I thought he would be so happy to see me at the party but now I know he probably was just sleeping with somebody else._  And it was then that she had started crying and Dallas had been so startled that all he knew to do was to hug her tightly and will all her pain away because he could fix a lot of things but he couldn't fix this.

He was desperately casting around for something appropriate to say because _he's a dickbag_ didn't suffice, _I'm sorry_ was downright stupid and _I love you_ was a horrible choice. Rome had turned around in the hug so she was leaning against his side and her head was resting on his shoulder. _He didn't want to come pick me up_ she had said, and Dallas had been a little confused, but then she elaborated. _That day back in summer, my parents dropped me off at the mall that was outside town and then had to go to the airport. My friends were all carpooling and we didn't live near each other so I assumed he would come pick me up when I called but he didn't want to._  Dal remembered that day, his brother was out somewhere partying and Rome had showed up at his doorstep at about 7 in the evening and just grabbed the cheesecake from the counter and switched on a movie before sitting on the couch in silence for about three hours.

Dallas had never asked her what happened that night and she had never told him, but this was probably it. _He was my boyfriend and he didn't want to drive down to the mall to pick me up and send me home, even after I told him it would literally take 40 minutes at most and he would be able to go back to the party, but I called you at 12 in the morning just now and I only had to ask you once and you got out of bed and drove 45 minutes there and back just so I could get home._  He didn't quite understand the meaning behind her words, in his head rome was just stating facts, because why wouldn't he pick her up? She couldn't possibly get home by herself and if Kavinsky was being an absolute douchebag and making out with some other girl she wouldn't want him to send her home.

 _I told you I would pick you up, you just had to call._ he had said, reiterating his words from when he had sent her there. On that drive Dallas had realized that he loved her; he had loved her from the very beginning when they were 8 years old and having wars with NERF guns. He loved it and it was so painful to drop her off at a party so she could go and surprise his brother. He couldn't imagine how painful it must be to go find your boyfriend of two years kissing someone else.

She's looking at him now, grey-blue eyes impossibly bright in the glow of the pool lights. _Exactly_ she had said _you would have picked me up even if the drive was 2 hours away_ and as she says it Dal realizes it’s the truth because even if she had called him and said she was sitting on a park bench in a city that was a two hour's drive away he would still have gotten up and put his glasses on and driven out there to get her.

Rome leans closer to him, and he slights himself backward so that they wouldn't both fall into the pool if she lost her balance. _I think I'm going to try something_ she had said, and he had nodded because it had been a full week of trying somethings and one more wouldn't hurt. Dal didn't expect her to kiss him though. One moment he was cocking his head at her and the next they were kissing and her arms were around his neck and he was frozen solid because what do you do when a beautiful girl kisses you out of nowhere?

After about half a minute his brain kicks back into gear and he tentatively leans forward to kiss her back. She's kind of pushing him backward so Dallas has to move his arms to anchor them and it's at this that she pulls away. He's confused and a little panicked but her lips were warm and suddenly he's not shivering anymore and the way she's looking at him now makes him want to jump in the pool and swim all the way to the other end and then back again.

There's silence again but she's staring at him so intently that Dal could have sworn his ears were ringing but then she had stood up and grabbed his hand to pull him up as well and then they were walking to the car and he was sending her home. Dal distinctly remembered making sure she was inside and the door was closed before making his way up to his bedroom and crashing onto his bed, falling asleep immediately.

* * *

 

An elbow into his side jerks him back to the present and he's looking into Rome's wonderful eyes once more. Dal sits up immediately, groaning when his head thwacks against the headboard and glaring when she giggles, but his face softens when he remembers what has happened.

"So like uh, when did you exactly come over?" he asks, unconsciously raising a hand to pat his hair down.

"At about 5am when I realized it was you I had been in love with all along." she says matter-of-factly.

He coughs and splutters, having not expected that answer. "I- what?" Dal says, tempted to bring his covers up to his shoulders so he's protected from whatever's coming next.

"It wasn’t your brother I loved, I just thought I loved him, but I actually love you." The way she says it, like it's a fact now is what makes him confused. After all these years and she's realizing it now? "It was the ride thing mostly, but also everything else. How you know when I forgot to bring my pencil case to school and show up with two of everything so I'm not completely helpless in class. How you memorize my schedule so you know when I need rides home and when I don't. How you're always just there when I need you, even before I know I need you." Dallas is frowning, he had been doing all those things? Guess it was just instinct, he wasn't consciously telling himself to notice if Rome had brought her pencil case to school or not.

"And you know what? Kavinsky has never been there. He brings me on dates and buys me presents and pays for dinner but he's never been _there_. He doesn't know that my favorite place to eat is that taco place down the street but you do and you bought me one of everything that day when I found out that I made honor roll to celebrate. He doesn't know that I don't really like dark chocolate but you do, and whenever you're eating out of the boxes he buys me for every single anniversary you always eat the dark ones so I can have the rest. He's never really there and he hasn't really tried to get to know me as a person this past two years but you have. You know how I take my coffee, you know which teachers I like and which teachers I don't, you know when my math tests are and you're always there to help me study." She's staring at him in earnest now, and Dallas can feel himself flushing a light pink. He hadn't realized that he had been doing those things, it just felt right to make sure he was there for her because well, they were friends and that was what friends did.

"So, you love me now." he says, just to clarify, still a little confused. She's shaking her head and he can feel the disappointment start to pool in his chest when she speaks up again.

"I don't love you _now_ , I've always loved you but I just realized it now." and then she's standing up and reaching out a hand so she can pull him off the bed. "I'll go brush my teeth and then I'll be right back." she says with a grin, bouncing down the stairs and leaving Dallas to stare at the spot on the floor she was just standing on.

By the time Rome came back, pink and gold hair pulled up in her messy ponytail, Dallas had changed into a better shirt and a pair of slacks and was making pancakes at the stove. "I don't know I just, I figured you would be hungry, after all that." is what he says when she looks questioningly at him, and then she just laughs, walking over and getting up on her tiptoes to kiss her on the nose.

"You're the best boyfriend ever." and it's those words that stop him in his tracks.

"What?" Dal asks, plating the pancake that was on his spatula.

Rome spins around, "You're the best boyfriend ever." she repeated, voice slow and monotonous like she's talking to a child. " I mean I assumed you liked me back because you definitely kissed back last night, and you definitely had no qualms with finding me in your bed, which I might add is going to happen quite often from now on." she continues, making him blush again.

"I just, yeah I do like you back, I've loved you since we were kids but li-" he's interrupted when she pokes him in the chest with a finger.

"You've loved me since we were kids?" she asked, incredulous, and Dal actually steps backward. "Why didn't you ever do anything about it?"

"Well I mean, you've never shown any signs of liking me back and by the time I worked up the courage to tell you, you were already dating my brother." he says, stepping around her so he can get the pancake off the grill before it burns. "Besides it doesn't really matter now does it?"

"Well of course it does!" Rome says, and he turns around, raising an eyebrow at her. "If you had kissed me when we were twelve then we could have been one of those couples that have been together for 7 years by the time we graduated. And besides if you had kissed me I would have probably said yes anyway and your brother would have broken someone else's heart." she mumbles the last part, fire suddenly gone.

Dallas puts the last of the batter onto the grill before turning and leaning forward so he can tilt her chin up with a finger. "Listen up alright? I love you. I probably always will, even when you don't love me anymore." He still highly suspects this is just a thing that's gonna last for two blissful days and then be over. "So it doesn't matter what my brother thinks because according to what you've told me you kinda love me too. " Dal continues, smiling warmly at her and leaning forward to steal a kiss before turning around and flipping the pancake.

Rome hooks her arms around his waist and gets up on tiptoes so she can watch as he finishes off the last pancake. "Yeah I do kinda love you." she says absent-mindedly, before perking up and asking, "Oh back before I interrupted you, what were you going to say?"

"Hmm? Oh right it's just, you spontaneously decided we were dating and whenever I imagined dating a girl I always sort of pictured this grand thing where I would ask her out with flowers and fairylights and everything." he says sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders at her. "But we kinda bypassed all that and started with you crawling into bed to little spoon me." He had this whole extravagant idea planned out, and Dal had only just now noticed that the girl in his fantasies had been Rome since the very first day.

"Well I've got no problems with that and you probably don't either because you're too nice to have problems with anyone." she says, "And since you're my boyfriend now I can openly check you out without anyone telling me it's wrong."

Dal splutters at this, blush rising up his face again and she laughs, grabbing the plateful of pancakes with one hand and the bottle of maple syrup with the other. "C'mon let's eat breakfast."

Dallas is still convinced this is a little too good to be true because he's dating _Andromeda Belrose_ for goodness sakes the girl that he's been in love with since he knew was love was. It still feels like a dream where he'll wake up and not be allowed to kiss her whenever he wants to and it shocks him how upsetting that thought is. Rome asks him what's wrong but he just grins and shakes his head, leaning forward and stealing one of her pancakes from her plate and laughing as she makes an indignant noise and pushes the maple syrup bottle out of his reach.

That night she curls up beside him, warmth radiating into his chest and burrowing her face into his pillow. Dallas instinctively curls his arm around her waist, surprising even himself with his boldness, but Rome cuddles closer and he knows she doesn't mind. When he's woken up the next morning by her whacking his head with a pillow and almost kicking him off the bed, Dal has to smile because it just might turn out okay.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr at fightiingdragons. fic title and summary from everything has changed by taylor swift


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